12 | sign of the times
meant to be fun because the surest way to go
broke is to make it too difficult that people
don’t show up.
DB: A lot of those courses need to be
revitalised to keep players and to attract news
players and new members. You don’t want to
make it a heartache for members and overly
difficult, but again it depends on the client I am
working for and the brief I get. You have got
to have that degree of difficult to keep better
players interested, but for the older and lesstalented golfer their handicap goes out and
they can still be competitive.
RC: Sometimes clubs can get hung up on
the once a year pro-am and worry about the
pros coming and ripping their course apart
by shooting 60. I think things are slanted in
making golf courses too difficult and by that
I mean too many bunkers. All some courses
need is to make their greens a lot more
slippery and that’s the best defence.
DB: Palm Meadows closing has been great
for Lakelands because they have been run
off their feet with golfers. It’s not good to lose
a Gold Coast golf course, but I’m sure the
Palm Meadows owner doesn’t want to run
a business where he is not making enough
money out of it. It’s not like they have gone
bad – there’s more to it than that.
for it at the moment from the general playing
public. There’s a lot of merit in speeding up
play and I’d have no problem designing
shorter courses. I have done a couple, but
there’s a perception that if it’s not 18 holes
then it’s not really playing golf. You can play
nine holes in a couple of hours and enjoy
yourself. It doesn’t have to be an all day event.
RC: I was surprised Palm Meadows closed, but
if a course is losing money and they are trying
to charge $100 or $120 for a game doesn’t it
makes sense to drop the prices to $50 or $60
and fill the place up. If Palm Meadows did a
promotion offering $50 or $60 rounds, the
place would be chokers.
DB: What I am looking at the moment are a
couple of nine-hole courses that are more
fun-type courses